


Dreaming of Hourglasses

by Teamione



Series: Dreaming of... [1]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Rated T for swearing, Wind-centric, wind just wants someone to believe him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25547323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teamione/pseuds/Teamione
Summary: Wind chuckled weakly, “It’s...complicated, and I honestly don’t understand exactly how either. All I know is that the hourglass and sword were both with me after I woke up.”"Woke up?"
Series: Dreaming of... [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009806
Comments: 9
Kudos: 134





	Dreaming of Hourglasses

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in one night and posted it so hhh I hope it's in character I've never written a fic before.

The sun was approaching the horizon, dipping below the treeline as the group settled into camp for the night. Wild was preparing some kind of soup and the other eight sat in a rough circle, swapping stories from their various adventures as they took care of whatever they needed to.

Wind scrubbed at the dull marks scattered across the hourglass he was holding, metal growing dull from disuse. _Not like I’ll be using it anytime soon since the one place it was useful in was-_

His thoughts were interrupted by Warriors, who had glanced over at Wind while he put away the sword he was sharpening. “Hey Wind, what’s that hourglass for? It doesn’t have anything in it.”

Wind glanced back down at the empty hourglass, conflicted. _Do I tell him? It’s hard to explain without telling the whole story. No- I can’t do that. They’d never believe me. No one ever does. I’m not about to deal with that again...maybe he’ll be satisfied with just a partial explanation?_

He looked back at Warriors, who was waiting expectantly for Wind to respond and answered, “It’s called the Phantom Hourglass. It’s from my second adventure and given to me by someone named Oshus. It helped a lot in the Temple of the Ocean King.”

Wind prayed to Hylia that was enough of an explanation and Warriors would drop it there, and he did. Unluckily for him, however, the conversation caught the attention of the rest of the group who were now looking over at the pair.

Four shot a confused stare at the clearly empty hourglass and questioned, “How’s it work? There’s no sand or anything inside it.”

Wind grimaced, of course that wasn’t enough of an explanation. Reluctantly he picked up the Phantom Sword from where it was lying beside him and gestured to the hilt, “That’s because the sand’s in here. The hourglass was used to make the Phantom sword, which was the only thing that could defeat Bellum.”

Four’s confused gaze only grew, “Wh- but if it was used to make the sword, how do you still have it?”

Wind chuckled weakly, “It’s...complicated, and I honestly don’t understand exactly how either. All I know is that the hourglass and sword were both with me after I woke up.”

Wind realized his words too late, eyes widening as he quickly put his attention on the sword, setting it back down beside him. _Please don’t think too much of it please don’t think too much of it please don’t think too much of it-_

Unfortunately Wars had picked up on Wind’s choice of words and a grin stretched across his face. “Woke up? What, did you take a nap or something after your adventure?”

Wind winced, of course they hadn’t let that slipup slide. “Something like that. It’s complicated ...and you guys probably wouldn’t believe me anyways.”

Legend raised his eyes from where he was organizing his pack, giving Wind an incredulous stare. “Wouldn’t believe you? Wind. You know who you’re talking to right?” He snorted, “Half of us have broken the laws of time and nature and traveled through portals into different dimensions. We’ve all seen weird things; if anyone will believe you it’s us.” He paused a moment, squinting his eyes, “I take that back, all of us have broken the laws of time and gone through portals. _We’re doing that right now_.”

Wind looked back down at his hourglass, memories of his second adventure ghosting across his mind. _Maybe he’s right, they’ll believe me, right? If anyone will believe something as impossible as that it’s them. Just because everyone else won’t believe me doesn’t mean they won’t._

Wind shifted his gaze back to the others, who were looking at him with varying expressions of excitement, mild concern, and passive interest. He took a deep breath before opening his mouth, “Okay. So to explain, uh, “waking up” I have to explain Oshus, and the thing about Oshus, who gave me the hourglass, is that he wasn’t actually a Hylian. He appeared as one for nearly all of my adventure, but after the final battle with Bellum he revealed his “true form” to be a giant whale.”

Wind took a moment to run his gaze across everyone, judging their reactions. They all seemed to believe him, so far. Their expressions varying from curiosity to confusion, to interest. The only one notably different was Legend, who fixed Wind with an expression of sheer terror and...recognition?

He continued, “After he revealed his true form he gave all of us a wish and then told Tetra and I it was time to “go home,” or something. I can’t remember exactly what he said because before I knew it the world was growing white and foggy and I blacked out. When I came to, I found myself back on Tetra’s ship with nothing left from my adventure except the sword and for some reason, the empty hourglass.”

There was silence across camp as everyone processed this. It was Wild who broke the silence, “Well, it does sound crazy but no more crazy than any other adventure we’ve been on. Why’d you think we wouldn’t believe you?”

Wind shifted uncomfortably because _now he had to explain it. Come on, just say it they’ll believe you-_ “Well, when I woke up I talked with Tetra’s crew. They told me I had fallen overboard trying to get onto the ghost ship. They dragged Tetra and I out of the water and said only about ten minutes had passed since the storm and the ship. _But I know what I saw. I know that adventure was real. I know it wasn’t a dream._ ”

Wind shut his eyes. He already regretted telling them. He shouldn’t have told them what the crew said. _He didn’t want to see the disbelief. The skepticism. The pity._

It was a tense few seconds before anyone spoke. He opened his eyes when Warriors broke the silence, “Well, I mean, that does sound like a-”

**SMACK**

Wars was cut off by a smack to the back of the head. Whirling around he raised his voice, “Legend what-”

Wind knew they wouldn’t believe him. _No one ever does_. He stood up quickly and muttered something about gathering wood before he took off.

Wind didn’t know how far into the woods he went, or where he went, really. The only thought running through his head was that he had to _get away_.

He eventually found himself leaning against a large oak’s trunk, knees pulled into his chest with misty eyes glistening with unshed tears because _he wasn’t going to cry over this, dammit. He knew this would happen, it’s happened before, get over it already._

The crunch of leaves under feet announced someone’s approach and Wind curled further into himself because he did NOT want to deal with the others right now after what happened a few minutes ago. The footsteps stopped next to him and a glance through his bangs revealed it to be Legend, who was looking at him with an unidentifiable expression...not quite pity but similar. It did nothing to calm his nerves.

After a few moments Legend spoke, “Wind, I-“

Wind cut him off, “If you’re here to “talk some sense into me” then you can kindly fuck off” Wind spat.

Legend paused, then slid down the the trunk to sit next to him, “Nah, I was just gonna say Wars is an asshole and ask if you needed any help pranking him. We could probably hide his stuff up in the trees and make him spend all morning climbing to get it down.”

Wind said nothing, not moving from where he was curled up against the tree. He heard a resigned sigh and a shuffling of fabric before silence returned to the forest once more.

The silence didn’t last long, however as the soft melody of an ocarina rose to fill it. A beautiful yet mournful melody rang throughout the trees, hinting at wistful memories of things forever lost and a promise to never forget.

The song ended on a draw-out high F, the note still echoing through the trees as Wind raised his head to glance at Legend. _What was that about? A song? Why?_

Legend looked down at the ocarina he was holding, a wistful expression on his face. He let out another sigh and spoke, “A girl named Marin taught that song to me. That song and this ocarina are the only things I have left from one of my adventures. The only things to remind me that I wasn’t dreaming.”

Those words struck Wind and bounced around in his head. The terror Legend had openly displayed earlier made awful sense now. Wind snapped his head around to look at Legend, who was smiling sadly at the ocarina he held. Wind fumbled with his words, trying to enunciate his thoughts,”What- I- You mean you…”

Legend’s eyes filled with sorrow and he ran a thumb over an area of the ocarina where the paint had started chipping away, “In my part of the timeline, the whale doesn’t have a name. He’s just known as the Windfish.” Legend scrunched up his nose as he paused, “...and he has wings for some reason.”

Legend broke his gaze away from the ocarina and turned towards Wind, who was listening in shock and, he was ashamed to say it but _relief_ because someone _finally_ believed him. Legend continued, “I believe you, I mean, how could I not? Pretty much the same thing happened to me. A boy sailing on the sea, falls into the ocean, wakes up on an island with no idea where he is. Fights monsters and does what a giant whale wants before waking up to the realization that to everyone else it was _just a dream_.” Legend laughed bitterly, “A cruel joke from the goddess Hylia.”

Wind was frozen, he couldn’t believe it. Someone _finally_ believed him. The relief he was feeling was soured, however, by the underlying guilt because the only reason Legend believed him was because he had gone through it too and that is _not_ something to be happy about.

Wind turned to Legend, whose face was twisted in both sadness and anger, “I’m sorry.”

Legend scoffed and waved him off, “Pfft, it’s fine. It’s not like you told Hylia to do it or something.”

Wind looked at the ocarina Legend was holding and asked quietly, “How do you deal with it? The disbelief from everyone you tell and always wondering _what if they’re right_ , and it was just a dream?”

Legend’s shoulders drooped, “If I’m being honest… that kind of reaction never goes away, you just get used to it and learn to ignore people like that. You’re the second person I’ve told that believes me...Ravio’s the first.”

Wind watched as Legend dug through his bag, still speaking, “The important thing to remember though, is to not let them get to you. They aren’t going to believe you? Fine. Let them think it was just a dream.”

Legend pulled out an hourglass, _the hourglass he left at camp when he stormed off_ , and handed it to Wind, who took it carefully, tears welling at the corners of his eyes again.

Legend continued, “As long as you remember it, and never forget or let them convince you otherwise, it’ll always be real, your hourglass serves as a reminder of that.”

Wind rubbed at his face, wiping off the tears that had inevitably begun to run down his face. He sniffed, “Thanks Legend.” He let out a weak chuckle, “Who knew you were a softy?”

Legend gasped, offended, “How dare you! I’ll have you know I’m not a softy!”

The small smile he failed to hide from Wind betrayed his words however. Wind dried his face and put the hourglass in his pocket, “I meant it though, really. Thank you.” A grin grew across his face and he shot Legend a mischievous smile, “You said something about pranking Warriors?”

Legend grinned back and stood, holding a hand out to help Wind up, “Let’s do it.”

The next morning the group stood around in amusement as they watched Wars balance precariously on tree limbs, attempting to reach his belongings hidden high up in the trees.


End file.
